


The Darkest Day

by 4thofFive



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Episode Tag, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-09-22
Packaged: 2018-02-18 08:57:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2342618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/4thofFive/pseuds/4thofFive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve is in trouble and Danny must risk their friendship to save him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Darkest Day

**Author's Note:**

> Another oldie. Written after the North Korea episode.

The Darkest Day

“The darkest day, if you live till tomorrow, will have passed away.”  
-William Cowper

 

“What the fuck was that?” Danny shouted the moment he’d slammed the passenger side door and twisted in his seat to look over at his nut job partner.

“What the fuck was what?” Steve responded, his voice deceptively neutral.

“That,” Danny flung his hand in the direction of the house they’d just left. His knuckles cracked against the closed window but he was too angry to notice the pain. “What did you think you were doing questioning the guy like that?”

Steve turned to glare at his partner.

“He fucking worked for Wo Fat. He has information that we need Danny.”

“That doesn’t give you the right to hold a gun against his head, especially when his children are watching Steven! He was a chef in a restaurant owned by Wo Fat. It’s possible he doesn’t know anything about…”

“Bullshit!” Steve spat as he wrenched the key in the Camaro’s ignition and the car roared to life. “He knows something. They all know something. They’re all in it together.”

Danny stared at the taller man in horror.

“Do you even hear what you’re saying? ‘They’re all in it together?’ You sound like a paranoid nut. Are we going to start investigating the Kennedy assassination now? Is Wo Fat responsible for that too?”

“Fuck off, Danny,” Steve growled as he jerked the Camaro’s wheel and pulled out into traffic forcing a minivan to screech to a halt to keep from slamming into the side of Danny’s car.

Danny sat staring at his best friend and partner in disbelief. He could hear the sound of his own breath coming in short gasps in the car. In the two years he and Steve had been friends the SEAL had never said that to him.

“Steve,” Danny’s voice was quiet but determined. “Something is wrong with you man. Ever since you got back from North Korea you’ve been…different. You’re acting crazy. You’re short-tempered, you’re losing weight…”

“Maybe I’m just sick of you, have you ever thought of that?” shouted Steve as he sped around a corner, the Camaro’s left side wheels lifting slightly off the pavement and forcing Danny to clutch the dashboard with a white-knuckle grip.

“Steve,” Danny continued, struggling to keep his voice calm. “You need to get away for a while. Take a break. Why don’t you go visit Mary or one of your Navy buddies?”

Steve barked a slightly hysterical laugh.

“And let Wo Fat run around these islands like he owns the place? He’d love that. He’d love to get me away from here so he can take over.”

Danny swallowed hard. He wasn’t just worried about Steve now. He was scared for him.

“Kono, Chin and I will watch out for him. We’ll make sure…”

The SEAL snorted in derision.

“You’re cops Danny, not Navy SEALs. You can’t handle him. Only I can. I’m going to be the one to take him down do you understand? Me.”

Danny took in a deep, ragged breath and turned to stare hopelessly out the window. He realized he was getting nowhere talking to Steve. The man couldn’t or wouldn’t listen. Danny was going to have to take action, action that would likely destroy their friendship forever.

 

**********

“Danny, you son of a bitch!” Steve shouted as he stormed into Five-0 headquarters three hours later. 

The SEAL stomped over to his partner who was standing beside the tech table with Chin and Kono. The Commander grabbed his friend by the lapels and shook him roughly. Chin and Kono moved to pull him off but Danny put a hand up to halt them.

“How dare you?” Steve growled his angry breath hot on Danny’s face. “How dare you go to the Governor behind my back?”

“Steve, you need help. You need a break. You’re losing control…”

“I’m losing control?” Steve shouted as spittle formed on his lips. “You’re losing control you arrogant little fuck. I’m in charge here. If you don’t like that you can go back to HPD. I should have left you there anyway. I don’t know what I was thinking choosing a fucking loud-mouthed haole asshole for a partner.”

“Steve!” Kono gasped, “Stop it!”

“This is between Danny and me so stay out of it Kono!” Steve snarled not taking his eyes from his partner’s face. “You don’t see what he’s doing. He’s always been jealous of me; always wanted to be in command of Five-0. That’s why he went to the Governor today to tell him to get rid of me.”

“What?” Chin demanded, looking worriedly between the two men.

“I didn’t ask him to get rid of Steve,” Danny continued reasonably. “I asked him to force him to take a holiday; to take some time off. He needs a break.”

Steve snorted in derision and shoved Danny hard against the tech table. The detective winced as his hip connected painfully with the corner.

“I don’t need time off,” Steve spat, his eyes dark with rage. “What I need is a decent partner I can trust to not stab me in the back.”

“Steve, please…” Danny reached out a hand to his friend and but it was slapped violently away. The SEAL took two quick steps forward and loomed over his partner, his fists held tight against his thighs.

“You’ve got your wish Danny, I’m off for a month. I’m leaving the island but you can be sure that as soon as I’m back you’re gone, you hear me? I’m firing your ass and finding myself a partner I can trust. Someone who cares about me,” Steve’s voice cracked at that and he turned abruptly and marched into his office shoving the door closed behind him.

“I do care about you,” Danny whispered brokenly to Steve’s retreating back. “That’s why I did what I did.”

Chin walked over to Danny and slung an arm around the younger man’s shoulders giving him a gentle squeeze.

“You did the right thing Danny,” he spoke gently. “He needs a break. He needs to get away. You were right to go to the Governor. Steve wouldn’t have listened to any of us.”

Danny nodded and swallowed thickly.

“I did the right thing and I destroyed the greatest friendship I’ve ever had.”

Danny put a hand over his eyes and Kono hurried over to wrap him in a hug.

“No Danny, no, he’ll be ok, you’ll see. Once he’s had a chance to relax and unwind he’ll understand what you did and forgive you. It’s going to be ok.”

 

**********

Danny walked into the Five-0 offices three days later and looked around at the strangely empty place. Kono and Chin were in their respective offices working on their latest case but Steve’s office was dark and still. Steve always teased Danny about filling every room with his personality but Danny was just starting to realize how much the quiet, intense SEAL did the same thing. 

Five-0 was still a functioning unit but it was if the wind had gone out of their sails – Danny figured Steve would appreciate that metaphor. It was Steve’s drive and determination and yes, brilliance, that made Five-0 the success story it had become. Of course Chin, Kono and Danny were instrumental in that success too, but Steve was the soul of the organization and without that soul, everyone seemed to be drifting.

The detective realized he’d been standing in the middle of the room staring at his partner’s office when Kono came up behind him and laid her hand on his shoulder. He jumped slightly and swiveled around to look at her.

“I got a hit on Steve’s passport,” the young officer announced in obvious relief. 

For three days the team had no idea where Steve was. He’d gone off the grid completely and Danny had visions of the Commander living in the jungle hunting wild boar with a sharpened stick and huddling for warmth at night in the underbrush.

“Where is he?”

“Fiji.”

Danny took in a released a relieved sigh before scrubbing his hands over his face. The giant weight of worry that had been pressing down on him for three days suddenly lifted.

“Thank God.”

Kono nodded and squeezed Danny’s shoulder. 

“He arrived last night. I don’t know where he’s staying but if you want me to…”

Danny shook his head and smiled weakly at the young woman.

“No. Let’s just let him be. At least we finally know where he is.”

 

**********

Danny jerked awake and sat bolt upright in bed. His apartment was dark and the glowing bedside clock told him it was just after four in the morning. The detective wasn’t sure what woke him. Had he had a nightmare?

His heart leapt into his throat when he saw a slight movement in the corner of his bedroom. He considered going for his gun tucked in the bedside table drawer, but discarded that idea when the shadowy form took on a familiar shape.

“Sorry I woke you,” said Steve softly, his eyes glittering in the muted light peeking through the window given off from the streetlamp in front of Danny’s building.

“How long have you been there?” squeaked Danny as he struggled to swallow his heart back down into his chest.

The shadowy form shrugged.

“Half an hour or so. That lock is a joke.”

Danny elbowed his pillows behind his back and leaned against the headboard of the bed.

“I would promise to get a new one but I don’t think there’s any lock that is SEAL-proof.”

Steve snorted lightly at that. Danny stared at him for a moment drinking in the sight of his partner home, safe and apparently unhurt.

“Feel like going for a walk?” Steve asked, shifting slightly in the chair.

“Umm, it’s four in the morning,” Danny pointed out in confusion.

The SEAL shrugged again. 

“Thought we could watch the sunrise.”

Danny wondered momentarily if he should ask Steve if this was going to be his last sunrise but he quickly discarded that idea. Steve would never hurt him. He did suppose, however, that this might be his last sunrise as a member of Five-0. He decided he might as well get it over with. 

The detective nodded, threw back the sheets and climbed out of bed.

 

**********

The two men sat down on the beach and removed their shoes to dig their toes into the cool sand. They had walked the mile from Danny’s house to the beach in complete silence. Neither seemed willing to bring up any subject of conversation until they reached their destination. Now, as the sky began to lighten in the east with pale streaks of red and gray, Danny pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapped his arms around his legs and tried to prepare himself for what was to come.

“How are things?” Steve asked quietly, his eyes locked on the horizon.

Danny nodded and licked his lips nervously.

“Good. Everything is fine. We managed to solve a few cases while you were away. Not as quickly as if you’d been here but the team did good. You’d have been proud of Chin and Kono.”

Steve nodded as well.

“I’ve always been proud of Chin and Kono,” he murmured softly. His words burned a little in Danny’s gut. 

The two men sat quietly watching the light show being put on in the sky by Mother Nature.

“How was Fiji?” Danny asked causing Steve huff out a small laugh. He wasn’t surprised his team kept tabs on him.

“Good. It was good. Very relaxing.”

Danny nodded unsure of what to say next

“I had a lot of time to think while I was there,” Steve continued so quietly Danny had to lean closer to him to hear him over the gently lapping waves.

“Yeah?”

The SEAL turned to look at his partner.

“Yeah. For the first few days I was so goddamned mad at what I saw as your betrayal of me that if you’d been standing in front of me…”

Danny shifted nervously on the sand.

“Steve…”

The Commander put up a hand to stop Danny’s words and the detective slumped back quietly ready to hear whatever invective Steve was preparing to hurl at him.

“I was in trouble Danny,” Steve spoke softly, his voice sounding strained. “I could feel that I was losing control but I didn’t know how to stop it. I didn’t know how to ask for help. I thought I could just power through it – lock it down like I always did but I couldn’t. I was …” Steve swallowed roughly and looked away from his partner. “I was scared. I was afraid I would hurt someone; that I would do something to get you or Chin or Kono hurt or…I didn’t know how to stop it.”

Danny wrapped his arms tighter around his legs and swallowed several times to fight the emotion rising in him. Steve was not the type to share his feeling and certainly not the type to admit he was scared. Danny didn’t know quite what to do with that.

The two men sat quietly for a moment avoiding each other’s eyes. Finally Steve spoke in a stronger voice.

“I know what you did – going to the Governor – was hard for you and I’m sorry I forced you into that position. I should have come to you; I should have tried to talk to you or a therapist or…someone. But I didn’t and then it all got out of hand and I couldn’t seem to pull myself back.”

“I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t know how else to help you,” whispered Danny hoarsely. “I didn’t want to go behind your back, to betray your confidence in me, but I was desperate. I couldn’t watch you self-destruct.”

Steve shifted to face Danny and for the first time in longer than the detective could remember, his best friend smiled at him.

“I know. I was two weeks in Fiji before I finally began to understand. Finally began to see how I’d been acting and how scared you all were. It was only when I began to let myself relax and unwind that I saw how messed up I had been and how hellish the last couple of months must have been for all of you.”

Danny shook his head dismissively.

“Not hellish, just worrying. We all love you and we couldn’t seem to stop you from self-destructing. We felt so useless; like we’d failed you.” Danny dropped his eyes to the sand.

Steve reached out and wrapped his long fingers around Danny’s forearm and squeezed it gently.

“You saved me.” Steve whispered and the emotion in his words caused Danny to look up into his friend’s glittering eyes. “You saved me.” Steve repeated.

In a whoosh Danny blew out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He put a hand over top of Steve’s.

“Then we’re…?”

Steve smiled again and squeezed Danny’s forearm again.

“If you haven’t filled the position of partner and best friend yet, I’d like to apply for the job.”

Danny couldn’t help the large, relieved grin that spread over his face.

“It’s yours by acclamation babe. No one else had the skills or qualities needed for the job. Everyone else is too normal. I can’t do normal anymore. I need a bit of ninja insanity.”

Steve laughed and Danny felt the ice that had been wrapped around his heart for almost a month melt away in an instant.

“How about for my first assignment I buy my partner and best friend some breakfast?” Steve asked as he climbed to his feet and slapped the sand off his cargo pants.

Danny nodded in acceptance.

“None of that health food shit,” he grumbled as he held out a hand to Steve who clasped it and pulled the smaller man to his feet. “I want bacon, McGarrett! Lots of bacon.”

The SEAL smiled fondly down at his friend.

“That shit’s going to kill you, Danno.”

The blonde man shook his head dismissively and poked his partner in the chest.

“No, you’re going to kill me with your crazy ass ways and lack of police procedure.”

Steve tipped his head back and laughed happily. God he’d missed Danny’s rants. He looked back down at his friend who was grinning happily at him. Without thinking Steve stepped forward and engulfed Danny in a tight embrace. The smaller man wrapped his arms around his friend’s waist and buried his face in Steve’s chest. Steve was home. He was finally home.

 

The end.


End file.
